Following to the submission of a planning application to convert a disused barn at Hillam Farm, Hillam Lane, Cockerham, Lancashire into two residential units, Greenlane Archaeology was commissioned to carry out an archaeological building recording. This took place on 9th March 2026. The origins of the site are uncertain as the available documentary sources do not distinguish between different properties in 'Hillam' but the building has a datestone of 1840 in the south gable and the initials on it are thought to relate to a Robert Addison Clarke, whose family had been in the area since at least the late 18th century. The available early maps show that it was modified several times during the late 19th and early 20th century The building recording revealed that the earliest part of the structure is the north end of the east side of the building, which probably comprised a smaller threshing barn, likely to have been constructed in the late 18th or early 19th century. This was then massively extended, probably in 1840 as shown by the datestone, to form an even bigger and slightly wider threshing barn, with animal housing (for cattle) in the south end. Further, monopitch, additions were then made along the west side in two phases during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, probably to provide further housing for cattle. The barn continued to have an agricultural use into the 20th century and was modified for this purpose, before having a range of windows added, apparently as part of an uncompleted scheme to convert it for residential use, before becoming derelict and losing much of its roof. The barn represents a good example of a building of its type, albeit much altered, that reflects the way in which changing agricultural theory and the demand for dairy products brought about by the Industrial Revolution is reflected in how farm buildings developed during the 19th and into the 20th centuries.
Mace et al. (Thu,) studied this question.